Originally posted by: Dissipate
Originally posted by: Vic
Taxes are the law, so I will pay my taxes whether I like them or not. And while the idea of a society maintaining a government without taxes is ideal, it is simply not practical IMO. Plus there are some services that I don't mind paying taxes for, like roads as an example. What needs to be focused on is the containment and limitation of government, and by doing such bring the tax rates down.
The law is not legitimate. If I got out a piece of paper and wrote laws down and told you to follow them, would you do it? What grants the government this authority that I don't have? The answer is of course, nothing.
First, like it or not, the law is legitimate according to our own laws.
Second, like it or not, we live in a democracy, and the government receives its authority from the people and this source of authority is accepted by the people as legitimate. And the majority has spoken.
Third, if you wrote down laws on a piece of paper and told me to follow them, I would not do it. Not just because you would actually have no source of authority, but also because you would have no means of enforcement. The government OTOH with its authority vested by, of, and from the people, can enforce its laws by fscking your life over and forcing you to live a tiny room for years on end while being ritually pounded in the ass daily by large and brutal men. And the people, who would see you as a threat to their authority and its agent, government, would think your fate right and proper.
edit: Call it "mob rule" all you want if it makes you feel better... I do. But that still doesn't change its reality.